The Syndicate
by Matkin22
Summary: A sequel to the main events of the animemanga Chobits. The Syndicate is out for revenge after the completion of Chi's program, and they don't care who is in the way... Chobits!
1. Vali Awakens

**Well, here's chapter one of my first Chobits fanfiction. For those of you subscribed to me through my other fanfiction, Final Challenge, I sincerely hope that you will enjoy this one too. I haven't given up on it, don't worry, but I will be writing these two simultaneously. If you have found this story through your love of Chobits, I hope that this story will be an interesting read for you. I've written it as a sequel to the manga/anime series, as a possible story that occurs when Hideki is in college.**

**I will be using the manga's spelling for Chi in this story. To avoid confusion, whenever Chi says her own name, it will be in _italics_ so that you don't mistake it as another character saying her name. Chobits is a CLAMP creation, and I in no way claim ownership over any aspect of the franchise.**

* * *

She awoke. 

She had had the dream again; the dream that simultaneously made her feel scared and happy. In it she stood alone in an orange stadium, the walls closing in. There were large, grey, sharp spikes on the walls. That was what terrified her. But then she turned and she saw him. The one who had taught her; the one who had rescued her; the one who she loved.

The Person Just For Me.

She had learned many things about people and persocoms. How they were different, how they were similar, what they could and could not do. People could act on their own initiative; persocoms could not. Persocoms could do any task imaginable; people could not. People could dream, but persocoms could not. That is what she had learned.

Why, then, did she keep having this dream? Long ago she had been confused about the concept of a dream. The best she could understand was that they were scary, but could not hurt anyone. She accepted that. Then, one night, she had a dream too. She didn't tell him about it. She was afraid of what he might think, of how he would react. So she kept the dream a secret.

She had had this most recent dream several times now. She didn't know what it meant, but she did know one thing. He would be there with her.

* * *

He stood strong against the torturous electric current they were forcing through his circuits. Inwardly he cursed the day when he asked to be programmed so that he could feel pain. He cursed the day when he had become obsessed with people. He cursed the day he, a machine, had tried to become as human as it was possible. But the knowledge that he could wipe this pain from his memory kept him strong.

"You failed, Zima," a voice hissed sibilantly.

Zima looked around the dark room. There were cables and wires everywhere. Test versions of persocoms were stored in gelatin tanks, their model numbers etched into their sides. Aside from the three scientists who were attempting to torture him now, he could see nobody.

"I did what I felt was right," Zima responded to the shadows. "I wanted her to find The Person Just For Me."

"So, we failed when we created you," the voice mused. "I suppose it makes sense in a way. You did come from the same line, after all. You did what you _fel_t was right; of course, acting against your programming. By taking the precaution of ensuring that she could not freeze you, we must have also installed some of her programming. What an oversight."

Two men stepped forward from the darkness. One was tall and dressed in a lab coat. His steely-grey hair betrayed his age, but his eyes reflected his true strength. The other was even taller, and dressed completely in black. His pale skin clashed with his jet-black hair; the only noticeable difference him and Zima was a red mark, shaped like a knife, on his cheek. Zima's eyes widened.

"I would like you to meet our newest persocom, Vali," the scientist said. "He is model number DTS 2.096; an upgrade from the old DTS 1.087. Oh, but I forgot, that's your model number, isn't it, Zima?"

"Swine," Zima growled. "You aim to replace me, and erase what you have labeled to be my failures!"

"Correct," the scientist said, idly examining a fingernail. "As you know, the DTS series is this nation's data bank. Your programming is remarkably intricate and complex for you to be able to withstand a Chobit's attacks, contain the government's data, and stay secure against any attempted hacking."

His smile flickered and faded as he looked into Zima's eyes. "Vali contains all of these programming, and more. He does not think for himself; he does what we program him to do. It is an improvement on your design. As soon as we have backed up all of his data, he shall set out to destroy her; only then can her damage be undone. When he has gone, you shall be decommissioned.

"Goodbye, Zima. I can't say that it was a pleasure knowing you, but I shall feel distinctly relieved once you are gone." He turned and walked back into the shadows, Vali at his side and the scientists close behind.

Zima roared his fury after them and threw himself against his restraints in desperation. The heavy metal doors at the far end of the room clanged shut, and he knew that he was alone.

* * *

**I hope that you enjoyed this first chapter. I know that it was exceedingly short, but it's all I could write in one spare. I'll update again as soon as I can. Please review (they really help improve my story)!**


	2. Chi Worries

**Chapter One: Uploaded November 13th, 2007. Chapter Two: Uploaded December 4th, 2007.**

**AUGH!**

**I really can't apologize enough for this delay. I planned for this chapter to have been completed and uploaded _weeks_ ago. Part of it is that I am writing this story on my spare at school, so that gives me about 45 minutes a day, five days a week. Another part of it is that I have been busy with a couple of side-projects. A final part of it is that I've just been plain lazy. I'm so sorry, I'd hoped to have at least three or four chapters written and posted by now! I hope that you haven't all given up on the story ever being updated again...**

**But hopefully this chapter will make up for the long delay!**

* * *

Chi turned her head away from Hideki's magazines and looked at the window; it was just starting to get dark outside. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was 9:15.

"Hideki will be home soon," she said aloud. A miniature persocom dressed in a pink and red outfit with a long red cap sprang from a nearby counter to Chi's shoulder.

"Will you ever calm down and stop leaping around, Sumomo?" a second miniature persocom asked from the dresser.

"Never!" Sumomo boasted proudly. "This is the way I was programmed, Kotoko; it's fun to jump around!"

"Nothing's ever normal around here," Kotoko sighed.

"_Chi_, Hideki is coming," Chi said suddenly, oblivious to the usual argument being played out. She clutched the magazines in her arms to her chest and moved towards the door. Sumomo bounced expectantly on Chi's shoulder as the handle jiggled, and even Kotoko dignified herself enough to stand up in welcome.

"Welcome home, Hideki," all three chorused as the door opened. Hideki, his head downcast, mumbled an inaudible response as he trudged past them. He dropped his bag carelessly on the floor and collapsed onto his sheets. His chest shook violently and his eyes were red-rimmed and sore.

"_Chi_?" Chi asked as she knelt beside him.

"I… I got thrown out of college today," he said, raising himself to his knees but speaking more to himself than to Chi. "There was a really important exam we wrote a couple of days ago, and I scored really low. Too low. They kicked me out today, and said that I had no chance of being readmitted. I've been so stressed about the exam recently that it's even affected my work at My Pleasure.

"First I took off a whole week to study for the exam, which was completely pointless in the end, and since I got back I've done nothing but make mistakes. I made one too many tonight, and the boss fired me." He sighed. "I really wish that Yumi's dad hadn't sold the bar. If he was still in charge, I'd never have been fired…"

"Fired," Chi repeated. "Is this a good thing?" Hideki, Sumomo, and Kotoko all fell over. "_Chi_?" she asked in confusion.

"Being fired isn't good, Chi," Hideki tried to explain. "It means that you can never work at that place again and earn money."

"Hideki needs money?" Chi asked, her eyes straying to the envelope containing her latest pay on the table.

"Well, yes," Hideki admitted. "But I'm sure I can find a new job soon," he added hastily as he saw Chi's hand begin to reach towards the table. "It's really nothing you need to worry about, Chi."

"Hideki will be okay?" Chi asked.

"I'm sure I will be," he replied, forcing a taut smile on his face. He sighed and looked around the room.

"Sumomo, can you come with me? I'm going out for a little bit."

"Aie!" Sumomo agreed, running over to Hideki.

"Where is Hideki going?" Chi asked.

"I'm going to see if there's anywhere nearby that's hiring," he said, putting on his jacket. "I'll be back soon."

"Take care of yourself," Chi said as Hideki left the apartment, Sumomo in his pocket. Kotoko sighed in relief when the door closed.

"She's finally gone; maybe now I can get my sense of normality back," she muttered.

"_Chi_?" Chi asked, overhearing the laptop.

"I said that you're worried about Hideki, aren't you?" Kotoko lied.

"Chi does not like to see Hideki like this. Chi is very worried about Hideki. What will happen if Hideki runs out of money?" she asked. Kotoko sighed, but didn't answer the question.

"I'm sure that he'll be alright," she said comfortingly.

* * *

Hideki sighed and slumped to the park bench in despair. He'd combed the entire area around his apartment, but no place that he'd been to was hiring. 

"I guess I can look around again tomorrow for the day jobs, but I might as well face it. I-"

"Telephone!" Sumomo shouted suddenly, springing out of his pocket and landing on his knees where she began to spin dizzyingly. "Telephone, telephone! Only six more rings until I-"

"Alright, alright, answer it," Hideki sighed, combing one hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Aie!" Sumomo agreed, switching over to her voice-chat mode.

"Motosuwa?" a familiar voice asked.

"Hey, Shinbo," Hideki answered dully.

"Anything new happening?"

"Not really," Hideki replied. "You?"

"Not a whole lot, but listen. Takako's going to see her folks in the country soon, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over and hang for a couple of days. I've already invited Kokubunji too."

"Yeah, sure, I guess," Hideki said without much enthusiasm. Shinbo paused for a moment.

"Is something wrong? You're sounding kinda down," he observed. Hideki sighed.

"Well, apart from getting kicked out of college and being fired, no, everything's fine," he answered.

"_What_?" Shinbo exclaimed.

"Yeah. Listen, thanks for calling but I'm kind of busy right now. I'll call you back, okay?"

"Motosuwa, wait," Shinbo protested. Sumomo clicked and then looked up at Hideki.

"The call has been disconnected!" she said proudly. "Would you like to make another?"

"What?" Hideki asked distractedly. "No, not right now…"

"Telephone!" Sumomo shouted. "You have another call! Would you like me to con-"

"Voicemail," Hideki said.

"Aie!" she agreed, her eyes flashing momentarily. "Recording comple- Telephone! Telephone! Would you like to-"

"Just take it on voicemail again," Hideki sighed.

"Aie! Teleph-"

Hideki groaned and buried his head in his arms. "Alright, alright, I'll answer!"

"Aie!" Sumomo said, her eyes flashing again.

"What is it Shinbo?" he groused.

"Mr. Motosuwa?" a hesitant voice asked. He bolted upright, cheeks reddening at his mistake.

"M-Ms. Hibiya!" he gasped. "I'm sorry, what-"

"Something terrible has happened here," she interrupted. "I need you to come back as soon as possible."

"What?" he began, but she interrupted again.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to explain. Please hurry." She hung up the phone with a click and Hideki was left staring at Sumomo as she disconnected from the telephone service.

"Call complete!" she announced.

"Come on Sumomo," Hideki said, picking her up and dropping her in his pocket as he began to run.

"Aie!" she agreed. Hideki ignored her and kept running, his eyes glued on the apartment in the distance.

_Please, don't let it be something bad about Chi_, he prayed.

* * *

**Again, I'm really sorry about all the time it took to get this chapter up. I promise to try and get up the next chapter as soon as possible! Please review!**


	3. Chi in Danger

**People often comment to me on how long it takes me to update my fanfictions. But I don't think any timeframe for my other stories could possibly ever come close to this. It's been almost two years since my last update and, surprisingly, I still remember the majority of what I had planned out. If you've been waiting since December 2007 for the next installment; apologies! If this is your first time reading: enjoy!**

* * *

Panting heavily, Hideki was surprised to see Ms. Hibiya waiting on the road for him, a worried look visible on her face from quite a ways away. "Mr. Motosuwa?" she asked in alarm as he came skidding to a halt in front of her, barely able to draw a shuddering breath. He forestalled her concern with a wave of his hand, forcing his eyes to meet hers as he bent double painfully. One look and the first words from her mouth was all it took to confirm his worst fear.

"It's Chi," she began, and he looked away, unable to hear the rest of it. His eyes strayed unwittingly across the front of the building, and they widened as he saw the shattered remains of what had once been his window. The light within flickered ominously, and he was able to see the remnants of his television among the glass shards on the grass below before it died altogether, the bulb broken in the disturbance.

"Where is she?" he asked, unaware that Ms. Hibiya had only just finished telling him that.

"I don't know," she repeated, holding out a note in her hand. "But... you should probably read this. It was left in your room and addressed to you. Please forgive me for opening it, but I was worried about Chi. It may help you find Chi."

Hideki took the paper from her and, squinting in the little light available, read the short message that had been left for him.

_23:00 at the train station. _

"That's it?"Hideki exclaimed. "No word on who they are, what they want, or how Chi is?"

"I'm afraid not," was the soft reply.

"Ms. Hibiya, how did this happen?" he asked, and she repeated her story again.

"I was in my room, cleaning the dinner dishes, and I heard a bang from upstairs," she told him. "I thought you'd just tripped on your way upstairs, but then I heard the window breaking. I ran upstairs and the door was open. Your things were all over the floor, and Chi and Kotoko were missing. I turned to leave and saw the note just inside the doorway. That was when I called you."

"Oh, Chi," Hideki moaned. "What's happened to you now?"

* * *

He was forced to run to make it to the train station on time. It was a good thirty minutes to the nearest platform, and he had not realized it was already 22:40 when he started out. It was perhaps fortunate that he had had so much practice in running over the last few years, a result of his trying to make it to Prep school with minimal lateness every day. So it was that he made it to the gate, panting heavily again, with less than a minute to spare.

Unfortunately, it was closed.

"How am I supposed to get in there and save Chi if the place is locked up?" he cried to a humming Sumomo, her navigation job complete for now.

"I never said to meet inside the train station; just at the train station," a voice said from the surrounding darkness. With the exception of the room 104 legend, Hideki had rarely been scared. But the sound of that voice was one that set his heart hammering in fear. It was familiar, and not one he had ever wanted to hear again. The sound of that voice brought back the memory of the worst moment in his life; of when Chi was attacked, and his powerlessness to help her; and the brief minutes when he thought he had lost her forever.

He looked around for it frantically, wildly searching every shadow he saw until the nape of his neck prickled and he cast his gaze skywards. There he stood, sitting casually on the low roof above him, his expression calm as he returned Hideki's stare.

"You! What do you want?" Hideki snarled, and he was surprised at the savagery in his own voice. The man above raised one eyebrow fractionally in response at his tone.

"I didn't realize you felt so much dislike towards me," he remarked.

"After what you did, I don't see how you can be so surprised," Hideki responded. "I'll never forget how you tried to destroy Chi!"

"But you're very quick to forget that I helped you to understand what Chi really was," the man commented.

"What?" Hideki shouted.

"I was the one who sent the pictures of Freya and Elda to you; if you don't believe me, ask your friend Kokobunji; he figured that out a long time ago." Hideki was silent a moment before his rage burst forth again.

"Who are you? And what do you want now?"

"My name is Zima, and I was the persocom databank," Zima replied. "As for what I want -" and now his gaze become hungry for a moment "- I want the status quo to remain as it is."

"_What?_"

"I wanted Chi to find 'the person just for me'," Zima said. "It was why, even though I knew her location, I delayed setting out until the program was almost complete; and even then, if Dita had not checked my sensors, it would have been put off even longer. It is the reason why I set you free, and why I disconnected Dita as she attempted to force a direct connection between Chi and herself. I was curious what would happen; I did not see her program as a threat, though my programmers did." He looked at Hideki.

"Chi is in more danger now than she ever was before, Motosuwa," he said. "The Syndicate, the organization who designed and sent me to destroy Chi, were relieved that her program seemingly caused no harm. They had feared it would hack into me and cause every persocom related system to crash, possibly crippling infrastructure on a global scale. The result was the opposite of what they expected.

"Think a moment; persocoms able to think for themselves, act on their own free will; even fall in love, in their own robotic way. Chi's program was ultimately more devastating than the Syndicate had ever feared; just in a different manner. Now, there is no longer any such thing as a persocom. They have been changed into something more, something alive. Though each one has programming, they can now consider the possible paths for themselves, and choose to ignore what their programming dictates if they wish!

"They have free will now; they can act as they please. They are as close to being alive as an artificial species can possibly be. There are now only three differences between humans and persocoms. Humans need air, food, and water to survive; persocoms do not. Persocoms are made of metal and latex; humans are not. And humans can reproduce, while persocoms cannot. In every other respect they are now identical."

Hideki gaped, momentarily lost for words. For a technologically-obtuse mind such as his, Zima's speech was almost incomprehensible. He may as well have been speaking English for all the good it would have done. Only one part of what he'd said seemed to have sunk in.

"You say you were the persocom databank?" he asked. "Meaning that you're not anymore?" Zima's gaze darkened.

"All persocoms were built on the same line, including Chi. As I'm sure you noticed, on several occasions when Chi was inputting and running data, every other persocom in the vicinity froze. I was designed specifically to avoid suffering from this program, and to do that some of the Chobit characteristics were integrated into my programming. The most significant of these was the ability to make a choice of my own, without relying on my programming data.

"The Syndicate were not pleased by this," he said softly. "I had gone against their orders and allowed Chi's programming to be completed. They became determined to reverse what happened. And so they designed Vali."

"Vali?"

"The new databank," Zima replied. "To avoid a repeat of my actions, they have not added any of the Chobit data. Instead, they devoted considerable sums and effort into the creation of a new line; one that only Vali is a part of. And on his creation, I was ordered decommissioned."

"So what does that have to do with anything?" Hideki shouted.

"You asked," Zima answered.

"But what does it have to do with Chi?" he nearly screamed, and Zima's gaze hardened.

"Everything," he answered, looking up at the stars. "Unlike with me, Vali will not be affected by Chi's programming, or by any defences she puts up to his cyber attacks. He has no opinion of his own; he does only what his data instructs. And he was designed so that while he can stray onto Chi's line to attack her, she will be unable to respond. He will obliterate her data, and she will cease to exist." He returned his attention to Hideki.

"Consider it lucky that I was able to break out and avoid being destroyed; it has allowed me to warn you. You cannot return to your apartment. Vali is on his way there to find Chi as we speak; it is the reason why I told you to meet me at this time. Go into hiding, if you can. The Syndicate analyzed the data output for 'the person just for me'. They know who you are, Hideki Motosuwa. Neither of you are safe, and as long as you remain in Tokyo, both or your lives are in data." He put on his sunglasses and stared across the roof of the nearest building for a moment before continuing.

"I will be trailing you, and I may contact you from time to time. But I should warn you now; Vali was designed with most of my capabilities in mind. With the exception of his decision-making abilities, he is more powerful and capable than I could ever be. And for a seamless transition between us, his physical appearance was modelled after me. Even our voices are the same. We are identical in every respect, save for one thing. His left cheek bears a small red mark on it in the shape of a knife. Watch out for it." Without another word, he shot up into the sky.

"Hey! Wait!" Hideki shouted. "_What about Chi?_"

"Hideki," a small voice whispered from behind; whirling, he gasped and saw Chi, the persocom he loved, standing only a few feet away.

"Chi! You're alright!" he breathed, staggering forwards and placing his hands on her shoulders to assure himself that it was indeed her. She smiled shyly at him and then embraced him tightly. The relief in Hideki's heart made the hug feel twice as good, but he forced himself to be rational and took a step backwards.

"_Chi?_" she asked.

"Chi, where were you?" he asked.

"Chi was with Zima," she said, looking a bit confused at the question.

"No, I mean, when I was talking with him," Hideki said, hastening to clarify. "Where were you hiding?"

"Chi was in front of building across street," she answered, pointing to the deep shadows there. "Zima told Chi to stay there until he left. When Chi saw Hideki, Chi wanted to go to him. But Zima said to wait so Chi waited. Then Zima left, so Chi is with Hideki!" She smiled up at him, and he felt his heart melt at the innocence he saw there. But the fear in his breast at what Zima had told him would not leave.

Being thrown out of college and losing his job on the same day were nothing compared to this. All he knew was that, if Zima was telling the truth, Chi's life was in danger. And he would do whatever he could to protect her.


End file.
